All Good Things Must End

Born and raised in San Antonio, Pickett Porterfield is an aspiring writer and avid wanderer. He has lived in Mexico and has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America. For more tales from the travel trail, check out his previous blog, Southeast Asian Dispatches

December 14, 2008

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas–Like all good things, our travels through North Africa and the Middle East eventually had to come to an end. So early last Thursday morning we boarded our plane in Madrid for the long slog back to Texas.

It was a bittersweet farewell, but time and money–or rather the lack thereof–determined that it was time for us to head home. I just wish we’d had a little more time to wind down in Spain. The four days we spent there were like a warm and soothing cup of coffee after an enormous exotic meal–the perfect end to a long and gluttonous feast of strange and wonderful sights, sounds, and smells.

It’s always a bit tricky to fully process the essence of a long trip so soon after coming home, but now on our third day back, I’m left with the following question: what did we learn from spending two and a half months traveling through the Muslim world? Having mulled this over the last few days, I think I’ve come to a couple of conclusions.

It’s tempting at times to romanticize the lives of poor and simple people living in turbulent, sometimes backwards countries, especially just before flying home to a frenetic and stressful First World life. But then you begin to think about the things back home so often taken for granted; things like hygienic food, good health care, freedom, justice, and opportunities for self-improvement no doubt inconceivable to the hardscrabble droves scratching out a tenuous living in developing nations.

While I’d be the last one to blithely claim that the United States is perfect, or even a model for all others to follow, it makes you realize after spending long periods of time around abject poverty, oppression, and corruption just how good we have it and what an incredible place we live in. If only everyone in the world could be so fortunate.

But regardless of what we sometimes are lead to believe back home, the people in the Muslim world are really just like us. Of course like anywhere, there undoubtedly exists a handful of bad people with malicious intentions, but the time we spent in this region and the people with whom we came into contact reaffirmed my belief that the overwhelming majority of people in the world are fundamentally the same. We’re all just ordinary human beings who above all else want to be left alone to live, laugh, and love as we see fit. And with that I guess it’s time for Julianna and me to unpack and get back to doing just that.

Before I sign off I’d like to thank all of you who followed along with us these past couple of months. I hope you all enjoyed the journey even half as much as we did. And to Tracy, Cynthia, and all the mysa.com crew at the Express-News, thank you for all the help on your end. Hope to see you all down the road.

Casks of wine and smoked pig legs add to the atmosphere at one of Granada’s many bodegas.

Julianna indulging in an order of churros con chocolate at a Madrid chocolateria.